BM2017

Names Section
Date
ACTIVITY
The Life of an iPhone (Antonia, 2020)
With environmental issues under the spotlight, people are becoming increasingly aware of the damaging
effects that mountains of textile and plastic waste the population’s “throw-away” lifestyle generates. But,
hardly anyone realizes the harmful effects of the millions of iPhones manufactured by Apple every year, and
the user’s seemingly inoffensive act of buying a new iPhone and tucking their old one away.
The main problem with iPhones, and smartphones in general, is their short lifespan. Annually, Apple takes to
the stage to announce an “improved” version of an iPhone. Due to numerous factors, including the end of
contracts, brand loyalty, and physical damage to their current iPhones, many users will inevitably upgrade.
Apple improves the specifications of its iPhones every year, but people are at a point where they are
expecting advances to reduce the environmental impact of smartphones. There are some scientifically
agreed and established tactics that can be implemented to reduce the impact of iPhones on the
environment:
 Choosing recyclable components
 Reducing reliance on rare earth and toxic materials
 Repair-friendly hardware design
 Minimizing packaging and making durable accessories
 Improving energy efficiency
 Extending ownership
Apple already incorporated many of these, and in comparison, to other smartphone manufacturers, Apple is
more environmentally focused. Apple retail shops and data centers are powered by 100% renewable energy,
and they use an advanced recycling robot that takes 200 iPhones apart per hour. But this is only a fraction of
what can be done, and the same ambition for accessible repair and planet-first hardware design from Apple
is much needed.
Requirements:
 Read and analyze 04 Activity 1 Supplementary Readings. The reading narrates the story map of the
life of an iPhone, from the extraction of the minerals for its manufacture to its final stage of
consumption and disposal.
 Using organizational analysis, life cycle assessment (LCA), and issue by issue, cite the activities
involved in producing iPhones along with its corresponding environmental aspect/s and impact/s.
Then, provide control measures to reduce the identified impacts.
 For your reference, examples were provided in the given templates below. Simply fill in your
answers. You may add rows as needed.
Organizational Analysis (20 points)
Activities Environmental Aspect Environmental Impact
Transport of raw materials (minerals) to Global warming and climate change
Inbound logistics Italy, Germany, United States, etc. that
contributes to greenhouse gas emissions

Operations

Outbound logistics

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Names Section
Date
Activities Environmental Aspect Environmental Impact

Marketing and sales

Service

Important note: Focus on the primary activities of the firm since information about secondary activities is not available on the given
case and can hardly be retrieved over the internet.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (20 points)

Activities Environmental Aspect Environmental Impact
Natural resource depletion
Potential water contamination
Obtaining the raw materials Extraction of minerals Ecological habitat damage
Change in the land form (visual
intrusion)

Important note: In contrast to organizational analysis (that presents a general assessment of the firm’s activities), LCA must
identify specific activities in manufacturing the Apple iPhone. Similarly, environmental aspect/s and impact/s must also be specific.

Issue by Issue (20 points)

Activities Environmental Aspect Environmental Impact Control Measures
Natural resource depletion Conduct oil and metal extraction
Obtaining the raw Potential water contamination at minimum levels of production
Extraction of minerals
materials Ecological habitat damage requirements and look for
Change in land form alternative raw materials.

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Names Section
Date
Activities Environmental Aspect Environmental Impact Control Measures

Rubric for grading:

CRITERIA PERFORMANCE INDICATORS POINTS
Content Provided pieces of evidence, supporting
16
details, and factual scenarios
Organization Expressed the points in a clear and logical
4
of ideas arrangement of ideas in the paragraph
TOTAL 20

References:
Aayan. (2020). The life of an iPhone. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/
08b8f73b70b2478a8da1c518d7440b7c/print
Antonia. (2020). Are iPhones bad for the environment? https://www.compareandrecycle.co.uk/blog/are-
iphones-bad-for-the-environment

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